Table of contents

BRIDGES, BARS AND GATES, AND WATERCOURSES.

Bridges over the Avon may have
existed to serve the earlier settlements before the
foundation of Salisbury. In 1375 it was stated that
the citizens had possessed the bridges over the Avon
'time out of mind' for an annual payment to the
bishop of 1d. a bridge, but the number of them was
not given. (fn. 1) At first the chief bridge was probably
at Fisherton, where the route from Wilton and the
west led across the river and on through Milford to
Winchester. Harnham Bridge in the south became
equally important from its building in the 13th
century (see below). Crane Bridge, south of Fisherton Bridge, is mentioned in 1300. (fn. 2) Until the 16th
century Fisherton and Crane Bridges were known as
the upper and lower, or nether, bridges of Fisherton;
their modern names were in use by 1561. (fn. 3)

The upper bridge of Fisherton is first mentioned
in 1318. (fn. 4) In 1412 there was a building on it held
by Thomas Artor, skinner. (fn. 5) Nearby stood a tenement, let in 1427 to a butcher, abutting a common
latrine. (fn. 6) In 1430 Thomas Randolf agreed to repair
and maintain the upper bridge for life for the easement of poor people with carts at flood time. (fn. 7)
When Leland saw it, it had six stone arches. (fn. 8)
Responsibility for repairing both Fisherton and
Crane Bridges, at least in part, rested upon Fisherton
parish in 1592 (fn. 9) and c. 1625. (fn. 10) By 1634 the west end
of the bridges had become the responsibility of the
county. (fn. 11) Fisherton Bridge was rebuilt in 1762, (fn. 12)
and again rebuilt in iron, when it was widened, in
1872. (fn. 13) The bridge was being again widened in 1960.
In the 17th century another bridge, probably a
footbridge, lay just south of Fisherton Bridge. It
was reached by a passage from the High Street, (fn. 14)
and was called Pudding Bridge from its connexion
with the butchers, who cleaned flesh there. (fn. 15) Although a building called the Crane was near it in
1455, (fn. 16) the name Crane Bridge was not used until
the 16th century (see above). The present bridge,
part of the one of six stone arches standing in
Leland's time, (fn. 17) is a 15th-century structure with
four splayed arches, having traces of a smaller and
lower archway at its eastern end. The south side of
the bridge was taken down in 1898 and re-erected
to widen the road. (fn. 18)

Harnham Bridge was known as Ayleswade, or
Ayleswater, Bridge until at least the 15th century. (fn. 19)
It was built of stone by Bishop Bingham in 1244 to
protect traffic from the constant inundations of the
river, and possibly replaced an earlier bridge. (fn. 20) At
the same time the bishop built upon the island at the
centre of the bridge a chapel of St. John the Baptist,
and charged the adjacent Hospital of St. Nicholas
with the upkeep of both chapel and bridge. (fn. 21) The
latter was then described as 'the greater bridge' of
the city, and it attracted the traffic from the west,
which had previously passed from Wilton into the
city across Fisherton Bridge. (fn. 22) Individual citizens
became concerned with its state and legacies were
frequently left for its repair. (fn. 23) But private support
was insufficient; in 1312 the master of the hospital
complained that the sheriff had pressed him to repair
the bridge, which had fallen into ruin, although an
inquisition had confirmed that he was not responsible. (fn. 24) In 1413 the hospital obtained a royal grant of
a toll on merchandise for the next seven years for
the repair of the bridge; it was again said that no
one was bound to repair it. (fn. 25) Leland described it as
'a mayne and stately' bridge, having six great arches
of stone south of the island and four over the branch
of the river to the north. (fn. 26) When St. John's chapel
ceased to be a chantry c. 1545, the hospital's responsibility seems to have been finally forgotten, (fn. 27) and
was not referred to in its new charter of 1610.
Furthermore three attempts during the 17th century
to renew its responsibility were successfully
opposed. (fn. 28) The bridge is still in use but a diversion
takes the main road across the river by a new bridge
built a few yards to the east in 1933. The old bridge
has six arches on the Harnham side of the island and
two on the Salisbury side. The former are thought
to be the original ones of the 13th century; the bridge
was widened on both sides in the 18th century. (fn. 29)

There had evidently long been a bridge at Milford
by c. 1386, for it was then broken, and it was said
that it had been repaired time out of mind by the
vills of Milford Pichard, Milford Richard, and
Milford Episcopi. (fn. 30) The present bridge may be a
rebuilding of that date. It has four pointed arches
of stone, two over the main stream and two over
the mill tail, with pointed cutwaters up and downstream and a moulded stringcourse below the
parapet. (fn. 31)

The charter of 1227 granted the bishop the right
to enclose Salisbury with adequate ditches. When
the city was divided into three parishes in 1269, the
bars of Castle Street, and those on the way leading
to Milford and Winterbourne Ford are mentioned. (fn. 32)
A ditch was perhaps begun by this time, but
evidently not completed, for an attempt was made
to do so during the mayoralty of Reynold of Tidworth, c. 1306–7. (fn. 33) In 1367 Bishop Wyvil gave
permission for the construction of four gates and a
stone wall with turrets, and a ditch eight perches
wide. (fn. 34) This evidently proved too ambitious a
scheme, for in 1378 the citizens petitioned the king
for help to complete the trench round their city and
a wooden fence, and were granted a year's aulnage
receipts from the city and 20 oak trees. (fn. 35) Two years
later the work was still not complete although the
citizens had expended £56 received from the aulnage
and 800 marks of their own money. (fn. 36) In 1381 evil
doers came by night and 'broke' a portion of the
trench 'then begun'. (fn. 37) Seven years later, after a
petition to Parliament, the mayor and bailiffs were
authorized to compel all property owners in the city
to contribute toward the wide ditches in course of
construction. (fn. 38) In 1429 31 people contributed to the
repair of the ditch, (fn. 39) but in 1440 it was still not
finished, for more money was then raised and
it was probably finally completed. (fn. 40) In the uncertain times of 1461, watches for the protection
of the city were appointed for the Castle Street,
St. Edmund's graveyard, and Wyneman Street
Gates, and the 'bars' at Winchester Street and St.
Martin's (later St. Ann) Street. (fn. 41) In 1483 money was
ordered to be raised for the repair of the barriers
about the city, then in ruin. (fn. 42) By this time, however,
the defences were becoming unnecessary for normal
times. By 1473–4 the two most important gates,
Castle Gate and 'Winchester Gate or Wyneman
Gate', were let as tenements; the latter had lately
been rebuilt by William Warwick. (fn. 43) Encroachments
had been made on the ditch by 1499, (fn. 44) and in the
16th century parcels of it were regularly leased out:
for example, the part between Milford bars and St.
Martin's Church to a brewer in 1525, (fn. 45) that between
the same bars and Winchester Street to a capper in
1547, (fn. 46) and that between Winchester Gate and St.
Edmund's bars to a tanner in 1556. (fn. 47) In 1673 a
house had recently been built in the ditch south of
Milford bars. (fn. 48)

Much of the ditch and rampart still existed in the
18th century. (fn. 49) It ran from the loop of the Avon at
Bugmore northwards to the corner of St. Martin's
Church Street, along the modern Rampart Road,
and across the Greencroft. It then turned westward,
north of St. Edmund's Church to the Avon again
west of Castle Gate. An attempt to continue it
between the two branches of the Avon west of
Castle Street was made but abandoned because of
the 'moorishness' of the ground. (fn. 50) In 1960 only a
part in the Council House grounds remains. The
two principal gates survived until the 18th century.
Winchester Gate was demolished in 1771, (fn. 51) and the
gate and west buttress of Castle Street Gate were
removed in 1785. (fn. 52) The east buttress remained until
1906, when it was removed, and the coat of arms
from it built into the wall of Hussey's Almshouse
nearby. (fn. 53)

Many references in medieval wills and deeds show
that the watercourses, which were a feature of
Salisbury until the 19th century, existed early in its
history. Whether they were originally made for
drainage purposes or to provide a water supply is
hard to say, and little exact information about their
number or course is available before the 18th
century. Hatcher suggested that they were bigger
in the Middle Ages than in later times, instancing
references to bridges crossing them. (fn. 54) Thus in 1310
Richard Pinnock left money to the bridges of St.
Mary, St. Thomas, and St. Nicholas, (fn. 55) and in 1407
William Mercer remembered the new bridge which
he had built at the end of Drakehall (now Exeter)
Street and three bridges in the Market Place. (fn. 56)
Some of the bridges distinguished by name such as
Ivy Bridge and Black Bridge, which lay in St. Ann
Street and Trinity Street respectively, were evidently considerable structures, but these crossed the
city trench, later called the Canal, which was a large
and deep watercourse until the 19th century. The
existence of bridges in Endless Street and Castle
Street (fn. 57) may indicate that there were other deep
watercourses subsequently filled in. By the 18th
century, however, and probably for a long time
previously, the city contained a network of small
watercourses, usually called the street channels, and
several larger ones, the New Canal, the Close Ditch,
and some ditches crossing the Close.

Leland noted that the streets of Salisbury had
'little streamlets and arms derived out of Avon'
running through them, (fn. 58) and Speed's map of 1611
shows them in almost all the streets west of the line
of St. Edmund's Church Street and Gigant Street. (fn. 59)
They appear to be in the middle of the streets and
this is confirmed by the accounts of travellers. In
1654 John Evelyn spoke of the 'quick current and
pure stream' in the middle of the streets, but found
them dirty and negligently kept. (fn. 60) Wheeled traffic
kept to the beds of the streams, for in 1615 it was
ordered that bars should be placed to keep down
brewers' and other carts in the rivers. (fn. 61) The use of
wheeled vehicles probably meant that the bridges
over the water were removed, and the streets were
consequently made difficult for pedestrians. In 1625
the mayor and commonalty complained to the Privy
Council of the dilapidated and ruinous condition of
the streets and watercourses, and were allowed to
levy a rate for their repair. (fn. 62) In 1685, however,
Celia Fiennes found them 'not so clean or so easy
to pass in'. 'They have steps', she said, 'to cross it
and many open places for horses and carriages to
cross it'. (fn. 63) Defoe said that the streets were always
dirty and full of wet, filth, and weeds, even in
summer. (fn. 64) It was perhaps the exceptional difficulties
of keeping the streets clean which caused Salisbury
to be the first provincial town in England to have
powers of improvement granted to a special
authority, here called the directors of highways, by
an Act of 1737. (fn. 65) This body improved the streets by
moving the channels to one side and making brick
beds for them, so that the traffic could pass unimpeded, and bridges could be made over them for
foot-passengers. (fn. 66) The course of the channels can
be seen on 18th century maps; (fn. 67) they were fed from
hatches on the Avon at three places to the west of
Castle Street, and after running through the streets
their waters all met at the junction of Ivy Street and
Trinity Street, and flowed from there to the meadows
at Bugmore. They were generally about 2 ft. wide
and 2 ft. deep, the depth of water being 1–1½ ft. (fn. 68)
In the twenties and thirties of the 19th century most
of the channels were arched over; the work was
apparently done piecemeal by the owners of adjacent
property at their own expense but with the directors'
permission. (fn. 69) This was because they were by this
time the means of removing the sewage of the
adjoining houses, but it also made them more difficult
to keep clean. When the city was visited by cholera
in 1849 it was felt that this arching-over was the
cause of the visitation, and many of the channels
were laid open again. (fn. 70) Their use for the removal
of sewage was condemned by the government
inspector in 1851, and, as the city was provided
with deep sewerage, they were gradually filled up;
by 1860 all had gone. (fn. 71)

The Canal and the Close Ditch differed from the
street channels because they left the Avon below
the town mills, so that their waters were at a lower
level, while the volume of their flow was larger.
The Canal actually ran under the street channels in
High Street, Catherine Street, and Brown Street. (fn. 72)
It is thought to have been made in 1345, for then a
piece of land near Pinnock's Inn in Minister Street
(now High Street) was granted to the city 'for a
watercourse running there'. (fn. 73) In 1381, when the
city made an agreement to have it kept clean, it was
called 'the common trench', (fn. 74) and the name frequently occurs in medieval deeds. Descriptions of
property on it (fn. 75) show that its course was the same
as in the 18th century; it ran from Fisherton Bridge
along the New Canal and part of Winchester Street,
then southwards through Trinity and Marsh
chequers to Bugmore and the Avon. (fn. 76) Its waters
were being used in water-meadows below the city
by 1739. (fn. 77) It was arched over with bricks along the
New Canal and Winchester Street c. 1837, (fn. 78) and
finally filled in in 1875. (fn. 79)

MILLS.

On the bishop's manor of Salisbury in
1086 there were four mills worth 47s. 7d. and a half
share of a fifth mill worth 30s. (fn. 80) The latter probably
was at Old Salisbury, where the king owned half a
mill worth 20s. (fn. 81) Some of the others may have been
at Woodford, Stratford, or Milford, (fn. 82) but one was
probably on the Avon by the river crossing at
Fisherton. In the early 13th century Bishop Poore
built a mill in Salisbury and charged it with £10
yearly for the celebration of a mass in the cathedral. (fn. 83)
In 1245 St. Nicholas's Hospital was endowed with
10 marks yearly from the bishop's mills within
Salisbury, (fn. 84) and in the early 14th century a man was
drowned near the bishop's mill standing at the limits
of the city. (fn. 85) In 1330 John of Windsor, the keeper,
accounted for repairs to the mill and the malt mill,
and for the stipends of a miller and two carters. (fn. 86)
There is little doubt that all these references are to
the mills above Fisherton Bridge, usually called the
Bishop's Mills, or the Town Mills. (fn. 87)

The earliest known lease was made in 1504, when
the mills, described as four water mills called the
Bishop's Mills, were let for 31 years at a rent of
£30. (fn. 88) In 1548 the city secured a lease of the mills
for 83 years at the same rent, (fn. 89) and the assembly
subsequently ordered all common bakers to grind
their corn at them. (fn. 90) The mills were let to subtenants during the city's term; in 1562 a renewal of
the tenancy of John Westbrook included an increase
of rent for a tucking mill which he had built at his
own cost and was maintaining. (fn. 91) When the city
lease expired, a new lease for 3 lives was made in
1632 to William Davenant of Leicestershire, no
doubt a member of Bishop Davenant's family, (fn. 92) and
renewed in 1663 to John Davenant of the Close. (fn. 93)
The mills continued to be leased on lives until the
19th century; lessees included William Eyre in the
late 17th century, (fn. 94) and the Reade family from 1754
to 1806. (fn. 95) In the 18th century the mills were housed
in two buildings, the grist mill on the main stream
above Fisherton Bridge and the tucking mill slightly
to the north on a channel leading from the main
stream into the western stream. (fn. 96) In 1740 the grist
mill was valued at £60 a year and the tucking mill
£20 a year. (fn. 97) The latter mill no doubt fell out of use
with the decline of the Salisbury clothing trade; (fn. 98)
it was still standing in 1860, (fn. 99) but was probably
pulled down in or before 1874, when the city constructed a swimming pool nearby. (fn. 100) For some years
before 1865 the upper part of the grist mill was used
for the manufacture of tobacco and snuff, while
flour was still ground below. (fn. 101) It was converted for
use as a power station by the Salisbury Electric
Light and Supply Co. in 1899, (fn. 102) and is still so used
by the Southern Electricity Board. The oldest part
of the building, toward the east, is of brick, and
dates from the 18th century; to the west an extension
of brick and flint with lancet windows was made in
the 19th century.

73. Sar. Corp. MSS. Swayne, Scrapbk., p. 42; see above,
p. 81; in 1315 an agreement to build a house in Winchester
St. (now the New Canal and Milford St.) included provisions about conveying water by gutters into a certain
ditch there: W.R.O. 164/1.

74. Sar. Corp. MSS. Swayne, Scrapbk., p. 37. This
agreement was made with the city 'picager' (see below,
p. 140), but it was in consideration for a grant of his office
rather than his being specifically concerned with the ditch,
as Swayne supposed.